Li thang County

(176) Mi rgod Temple

1. Name

Ri bo lha khang

2. Location

The temple is located 8 km from the county town.

3. History

According to oral tradition, the temple was built in the Fire-Rat year of
the 9th Rab byung (1516) by La dkar bsTan pa’i rgyal mtshan53 who was a monk of sMan ri Monastery (No.1). He first took residence
in a village known as sDe le gong and later established a hermitage on the
sacred mountain of gNas chen Ri bo brag dkar.

The hermitage was transformed into a temple belonging to the local
community. According to legend, the cave where the hermitage was located was
so small that a yeti enlarged it, which is why the hermitage is also known
as Mi rgod ri khrod, the “Yeti hermitage”.

Mount Ri bo brag dkar is believed to be an abode of the goddess Srid pa
rgyal mo. The present temple was rebuilt in the 1980s. The present master of
the temple is Rig ’dzin rgya mtsho.

4. Hierarchical system

one khri pa (replaced every five years)

one dbu mdzad (replaced every five years)

one dge skos (replaced every five years)

5. Current number of religious practitioners

There are fifty religious practitioners in the temple most of whom are
laymen.

6. Current education

There are no organized classes.

7. Educational exchange

The temple has no particular ties with any other establishments.

8 / 9. Rituals

The temple does not hold any regular annual rituals.

10. Books held in the temple

The temple has no books but the practitioners have their own ritual texts.

11. Income and expenses

The temple depends on donations from its followers.

12. Local community

The local lay community consists of five villages: sDe tshal with twenty
families, sDe slas with fifty three families, Ra kho with thirty-seven
families, Khri mo with one family, Lha khang with twenty-five families.

The local population is very mixed. It includes, in addition to Tibetans,
many Han and Yi followers of Bon. The temple claims that in addition to the
families mentioned above there are around two hundred families of mixed
nationality in Nas chu township, around one hundred families in Shar kha
township, one hundred and sixty families in Sa snga rong village and more
than a hundred families in Kho tsha in Mu li county.

13. Local festivals

The mountain behind the temple is Ri bo brag dkar. It has a la btsas at the
top. The local deity of the mountain is generally propitiated on the 1st,
13th and 15th days of each month although there is no prescribed date. There
are four mountains surrounding it at the cardinal points: Dung ri dkar po,
gSer ri dkar po, Zang brag dmar po and Brag mar yu ring.

14. Occupation of the local people

Farmers

Sources

(1) Interviews

With Nyi ma rgyal mtshan (b.1928) in autumn 1997, a teacher at the
temple